MAD Spins: more therapeutic than any therapy!
God I had a crap day at work yesterday, I mean really crap, I was angry and depressed after slaving for the man for 11hours and getting nothing done.
I was thinking of heading down the the local halting site with my top off
and roaring:
“WHO WANTS IT!!??!! Which one of you fairies wants it!!?? Eh??!!”
..but luckily I remembered my bike was on the back of my car, and that I knew the way to a beaten-up place called 3 rock…
Suffice to say after finishing my spin with a jaw-dropping descent of the boneshaker all anger and grumpiness was magically spirited-away.
It works, it really does, don’t go home angry, get on your bike and head-on out, if only for 30 mins, Irish XC trails are like that island in LOST, some magical healing force there man…..groovy
Anyway……my main man Paddy (yo!) will be fronting an exhilerating spin of 3 rock tonight.
Not sure what route he has in mind but it’s Paddy so you know it’s gonna be good.
I’m sure it’ll include a lap or two of the newly completed XC track (I was on it last night - it is the biz!)
Meeting point is at 7:00pm at Taylors pub or 10-15 mins later at Ticknock car park
and….the last race of the K-Cap series is on this Sunday so lets have a lovely training spin to celebrate!
Thursday 19 April the Leadmines is our venue, with the addition of EPICs new circuit this is an ideal venue for both grunt-wheeze-intensity and techno-techno-technicality.
Meeting point is at 7:00pm at Palmers Golden Ball pub
Hope to see ye out!
Fergal
087-792-7730
April 17th, 2007 at 10:33 am
shouldn’t that read .. “Its Paddy, so you know its gonna be all slow and careful on the descents”!!
Well, normally yes, but not tonight as i have a rage built up that needs getting rid of after nearly being taken out by another stupid poxy idiot f*ckw*t driver this morning. Tossers, that would have been twice in 2 months.
Remember folks, when driving on the road, you’re actually supposed to look before you turn right across a lane of traffic.
Am seriously considering mounting a crossbow on my handlebars for the next idiot that tries this shit on me … grrrrrr!
… and .. breathe …
April 17th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Rage!!
Oh, save it Paddy, save it for the trails, promise you’ll feel better afterwards…..
…and breathe……
April 17th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Jaysus paddy have you a target on your back??? Don’t get MAD, get even….fit an airhorn to the bike, couple of blats from that should waken anyone up…
April 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
well now Mr Whistler - you back on terra firma again?
might we see you up Castlewellan way on Sunday?
hope the trip went well
April 17th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
hmmm .. now that i think of it .. my mountain biking helmet does have a big red X on the back of it!! (seriously)
But i wasn’t wearing that one at the time so there must be some other explanation.
BTW: daggets track tonight before going down to the new section. It may even be dry there tonight!
April 17th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I’m on for that, we’ll have to lug the bikes over the strategically fallen tree at the end but the rest should be a lot of fun
April 17th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I might not have worked in a long time but it still gets me down,… so therefore i shall see you guys later..Bring on the power..
April 17th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
work or study - it’s all the same Tom, looking forward to seeing THE POWER brought on….
April 17th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
That was another super spin, god we are having a great time lately, and to top it off no mechanicals at all, which was nice1!..trails couldnt be drier, we whipped round the new track a few times, after my third loop I thought “yeah that was savage”, it takes some getting used to but you can rip through it after a while, and with some beddin in it’ll be great craic…fair play to those involved, it gives three rock a new lease of life, ….oh yeah we also did daggets which is now well rideable…..
I see the forum of goodwill and friendly banter is down?, ah well…
April 17th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
another great spin wherein I graciously thanked Tom for providing me with the required insulating tape I needed (to mend my ripped tyre sidewall) by:
1: Jumping out of the new bombhole
and dazzling him with my helmet light (which I thought I had angled down onto my face to provide a terrifying partially-shadowed facial appearance).
2: Standing on his fingers until he roared while I pretended to help him up after his bike wrestled him to the ground
3: I probably locked-out his fork for the descent as well, though I can’t remember, I think I’m gone postal….sorry Tom, it’s not you…it’s me….
man, I am dead sound! next thing I’ll be trying to knock Paddy down in my car….
as the saying goes, “with friends like me…..”
anyway, the 3rd lap of the new course felt really good, got rightly into the flow, Tom was getting into it too (after his post-dazzle pupils returned to normal), the rock fall is a really nice feature, though I may pop-up there for a few hours either Fri or Sat afternoon to bermify some of the flat/off-camber corners
A few of the epic hardcore element took a spin down it though they couldn’t really see any of it that time of the evening but managed to make it out the far end just the same, sounded like they enjoyed it…
The climb to Daggetts I really enjoyed, just the right amount of technicality and steepness
Tom,
you’re really bringing on that POWER these days - seriously, I thought it was just an impressive catch-phrase at first but that 9 min climb from Taylors to Ticknock car park says differently.
Make sure to Bring It On if you make it up to Castlewellan on Sunday.
Next on the calendar is Leadmines on Thursday (7pm at Palmers), with the lads newly finished club course, it’ll be a good ‘un
Haven’t seen the ladies out on an evening spin in a while….
Inga, it’s nearly time for your ‘work’ day down in Arklow again!
Judith, put down that guitar and hop on your bike!
April 18th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Haha cheers fergal, yeah we flew up it, I dont know whats changed lately it just seems to be getting easier, maybe its the secret training and the EPO,…i dont know….
April 18th, 2007 at 9:17 am
now we know what toms up do when he says he has a date!
he’s actually out on the bike training
April 18th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Damn it O’Brien I knew you were onto me…or maybe, maybe its all these dates getting me fit : ) …
…without giving too much away I hear chasing sheep is great training…
April 18th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Great track lads..I couldn’t see a thing..I know Paddy was behind me, was that Tom in front..love to give that trail a lash in the daylight.Great use of a forest too lads..
well done to all involved in it,
Cheers Richie
April 18th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
yeah that was indeed my good self..glad you guys enjoyed it, it gets really good after a few runs…
April 18th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
man I feel the love, so many men expressing thier feeling for each other! beautiful
April 18th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Jingos! Bikes, on a mountain? What ever will those crazy kids think of next!
Ah, I remember mountains, I think they used to be fun…
April 19th, 2007 at 7:48 am
poor mick
April 19th, 2007 at 9:46 am
I took a spin down the new section last night. It’s great! A bit of work left in a couple of the corners and more tyre marks needed but it is class. Great to have more options up around Three Rock
Also, at some stage we need to name the damn thing! Put down suggestions and see if the people who put in the work can agree on one of them…
“Rock and Roll” (rock feature…)
“Spaghetti Falls”
“Gotta love it”
etc…
April 19th, 2007 at 10:15 am
i think that fergal, as the main organiser behind it all gets to decide the final name. I like the rock’n'roll idea though.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:23 am
glad you liked it Ryan, yes, I thought the exact same about some of the corners after a few laps on it, I’ll be up there tomorrrow or Sat to sort the corners out, also wanted to see where we could use some of the wood, I’d like to make a short drop-off for the big bike when it arrives in a few weeks !!
rock n roll is a great name
as it describes the whole new section fairly well, I was thinking “pinball” for the other section we did as you feel like a pinball being hopped and bounced between the trees on the fast DH bit….
we’ll look at the submissions and decide on some names as soon as we can.
PS:I won’t be making it out to Leadmines tonight as I clanked myself in the gym last night so gonna give myself a rest, have a good one.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:29 am
“clanked myself in the gym last night” … fergal, you really shouldn’t do stuff like that in public!!
April 19th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Hahaha….
April 19th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Pinball is cool for the other bit… bouncing from line to line…
April 19th, 2007 at 11:57 am
I was very careful when typing the ‘c’ and ‘l’ that I didn’t type a ‘w’ instead Paddy.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
hey Tom,
I’m on for Fri night as I won’t make it out tonight
I have an auto-text sent to you about putting the drill in your car for tonight,
so I can collect it off you on Fri.
Wouldn’t mind doing something with that wood on Sat, thinking of a small ladder a drop-off beside rock’n'roll for the new (bouncy) baby ….
April 19th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Cool i’ll bring it with me so, see you then,…. cant wait to see this new machine in action….
April 19th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
i can come along on sat aswell to help out i still have nails and screws left over from the building up in slade
April 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Who’s heading to the Leadmines tonight? I can give a lift from UCD area if anyones interested. Can’t give one back though.
April 19th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
good man Shane, it’ll be later in the afternoon that I’ll be up on Sat - likely around 3pm but I’ll be up there tomorrow too so all should be sorted by Sat evening
April 19th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
really nice spin tonight. leadmines course is deadly. Just me and oisin showed up from MAD. we tagged along with EPIC’s intermediate group led by Al (i think). good buzz all round
Oh, a note to everyone - Cycleways and cyclelogical don’t have any SRAM stuff
apparently nobody buys it for some reason. It’s lovely stuff 
The superstore have loads!
April 19th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
or avid stuff aswell i have been told
April 19th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Avid is SRAM, or actually - Avid, and SRAM or RockShox…. or something like that
April 20th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
close….
SRAM own Avid, Rockshoz, Truvativ and PitStop (maintanance products)
All they need is a frame shop and some wheels and tyres and they’ve got a full bike
April 20th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
thanks for a cracking spin paddy fergal and tom etc it was so fun especially without lights ![not being sarcastic]
April 21st, 2007 at 6:35 pm
some more good work done this evening on the new course.
Robb, Steve, Shane (the feckin lopper wrecker!!) and myself grunted and heaved rocks bigger than ourslves into berms.
high-speed cornering is now mandatory on the course.
we walked the lower forest section and spotted a lot of potential though an awful lot of work so it’ll be a BIG MAD trail build session to get that kicked-off, but will be well worth it.
right, I’m off a bit of pre-race bike fettling, my sparkly new bottom bracket is in so I hopefully won’t be up until 2am in my shed crying down the phone toP addy that my bike is broken….
April 21st, 2007 at 7:31 pm
here now i gave it to yous with that piece with no cracks in it and it was one of ye who broke it no me
blaming me on it
April 21st, 2007 at 7:37 pm
eloquent
April 21st, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I saw ya!
ya little fecker!
…trying to lop-thru a tree you couldn’t even get your arms around!
my mammy is very angry with the wonky loppers and is coming around to your place to give out to you
BIIIIIIIG trouble…..
April 21st, 2007 at 7:51 pm
i stoped cutting through it and went at it with a saw so meh it was one of ye three
probley that steve chap he seemed to be the one with stuff breaking
April 21st, 2007 at 7:55 pm
regardless, you’re in bigger trouble for that wonky spelling!!
April 21st, 2007 at 7:59 pm
…and don’t get me started on the grammar!
April 21st, 2007 at 8:02 pm
ah forget it
i was not typing all what i had to say
April 21st, 2007 at 8:54 pm
If any more of this arguing happens on here, I will be forced to ban you indefinitely. You have been warned
Really psyched about that second section. It is a huge amount of work and materials but if done properly, it could be like nothing ever seen around these parts. So, what is needed you ask?
1. Manpower (there is a load of hammering, clearing, DIGGING and carpentry to be done)
2. Wood. We are going to need a lot of wood if this is going to be come what myself, Robb and Fergal invisioned today. So if anybody can source free planks, it would be very much appreciated. Also chicken wire in bulk will need to be found…
3. Tools. All of you with such things as chainsaws and screw guns will be treated like gods during this project!
I guarantee EVERYBODY who catches a glimpse of this concept trail will want to ride it over and over…..
April 21st, 2007 at 9:31 pm
you bet Stevie,
I had visions of sections from ROAM when looking around up there today, I forsee freeride nirvana.
Multiple fallen-tree ladder skinnies/bridgess, gap-jumps, wall-crossings, rock-drops, bombhole transitions, free-flowing and fast XC sections, at the same time taking advantage of some of the trail sections that exist there already.
Now don’t everyone be getting scared of these descriptions - it will be foremost an XC trail for the WHOLE club to enjoy, with every section rideable or easy-runs around ‘fun features’.
But the scope is such that we can do some very exciting things with what exists on that hill…
Wood is a prime raw material indeed, hang onto any spare planks ye have - we can use each and every one of them.
April 21st, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Why try to describe it in words when we have a video of it?! It is going to be very similar to this we hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkzRasD5Osk
April 24th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
i’ve a D- in wood work, lets set a day and all the Sat gang will give a hand out!
May bank holiday monday? 9am - late ?
Coem on ! Club trail building day? Yis might need the back up if the heavies arrive
April 25th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Sure thing Martin, there’s several potential sections to work on - one of them is HUGE and requires a lot of planning, materials and slaves.
While that is being planned, work can commence on other sections.
I’ll put a post together next week to advise the plans/locations.
Fergal